Alameda Point Development

One of the challenges facing the Alameda Unified School District is planning for school facilities for the development of Alameda Point.

Here is what the city of Alameda presented as information regarding school facilities in their bidding process for selection of the Master Developer in 2000.

The City has entered into an agreement with Alameda Unified School District (AUSD) related to future development of school facilities within the City. The agreement provides for the conveyance of 12 acres of land at Alameda Point for operational or administrative uses. The agreement resolves a number of long standing issues between the City and AUSD. It is expected that the Master Developer will work directly with AUSD to ensure that there are adequate public education facilities at Alameda Point.

As the planning and development of Alameda Point takes place, Alameda Unified School District will be an active partner in the process.

In June, 2005, the Roma Design Group produced a 70 page document that presented the Preliminary Development Concept (PDC) for Alameda Point.

At the July 14, 2005 ARRA meeting, Board President Mike McMahon offered these comments regarding the omission of the role of schools at Alameda Point in the PDC document.

In December, 2005, the revised Preliminary Development Concept document for Alameda Point was released. Of special note in regards the roles of schools at Alameda Point, the following paragraph was included in section 7.) Next Steps in the Planning Process.

School Facilities Needs Analysis: Concurrent with the environmental evaluation and the analysis of alternatives, removed(the City and) the Alameda Unified School District will conduct an assessment of the District facilities in the West End of Alameda and the anticipated growth in student population in the West End with build out of Alameda Point. The assessment will determine whether future student populations can be accommodated in existing District facilities or whether new facilities will be needed.

At the December 7, 2005 ARRA meeting, Board President Mike McMahon made these comments regarding the revised PDC document.

In May, 2009, Sun Cal published a document related the Election Initiative which plans to build over 4,500 units of residential property. In section 8 of the document estimates the developer contribution to be approximately $25 million for the two school sites identified their plan.

After the defeat of Sun Cal proposal things slowed down until John Russo became City Manager. During a failed attempt to bring Lawrence Livermore Lab to Alameda Point, the Navy agreed to a no cost conveyance of Alameda Point. In 2014, city is embarking on its own development plan for the Point. The impact on schools is still unclear. For detailed breaking developments on the development of Alameda Point, go here.

Editor's Note:Principles for community development are essential for prioritizing community values. Here are some principles to consider.

The city of Alameda has as part of its charter a housing development law called Measure A. During the development of the Preliminary Design Concept, some community members questioned whether Measure A should be applied to land at Alameda Point because of its limitations to apply smart growth princples.

In 2003, the City Council adopted an amendment to the City's General Plan, to advance a portion of the development contemplated by the Reuse Plan. In addition, to facilitate implementation of the Reuse Plan, the City of Alameda adopted a comprehensive set of General Plan policies to guide redevelopment of the former Naval Air Station consistent with the vision articulated by the Reuse Plan.

Preliminary Development Concept

The next step in planning Alameda Point is to prepare a Preliminary Development Concept. The new plan will build on the Reuse Plan and General Plan Amendment. It will incorporate new information on existing conditions and the real estate market and will contain more detailed policies and plans for land use, urban design, and transportation.

In 2004 a series of community meetings will lead to completion and adoption of the Preliminary Development Concept in mid-2005. Meanwhile, the City and Navy continue to negotiate the terms of property conveyance.

In September, 2006 APCP decision not to move forward was detailed in a City of Alameda Press Release.

Alameda Community Community Partners issued the following press release:

In August 2001, Alameda Point Community Partners (APCP) was selected by the Alameda Reuse and Redevelopment Authority (ARRA) to be the master developer for Alameda Point (the former Naval Air Station, Alameda) located in the City of Alameda on the San Francisco Bay. APCP is a development company that includes Centex Homes, Shea Homes and Shea Properties. This group was assembled specifically for the redevelopment opportunity at Alameda Point.

There has been a dramatic downturn in the real estate market over the last six months and the project is no longer economically feasible based on the deal structure established by the U.S. Navy. The multifaceted entitlement complexities, hazardous material clean-up, coupled with the weakness in the real estate market has changed the risk profile for Alameda Point and does not support a land sale price of $108.5M. The members of APCP have decided that further investment in this project is no longer prudent relative to the high degree of risk.

After working with the ARRA for over five years, APCP is very disappointed that they will be unable to continue the Alameda Point Project. The companies of Centex Homes, Shea Homes and Shea Properties wish to thank the ARRA board and staff for their efforts.

Alameda Point is a strategic location in the San Francisco Bay Area and the development of this property should someday become a reality for the City of Alameda.

In December 2003, the City of Alameda Reuse and Redevelopment Agency (ARRA) initiated an 18-month, ARRA-funded pre-development period to complete two tasks: the PDC for Alameda Point prepared with the assistance of the Alameda community, and a Property Conveyance Strategy developed with the US Navy for the transfer of property from the Navy to the ARRA.

During the last year, in addition to the public meetings on the PDC, a City team has been meeting with the Navy to develop the conveyance strategy. This effort is expected to result in a joint statement of conveyance principles and a timetable for property conveyance. The ARRA expects that a Phase I conveyance will occur in 2007.

Completion of the PDC and the Navy conveyance strategy provide the foundation for the next steps in the planning process. Those steps include:

Master Developer Election to Proceed With Project and Environmental Review Pursuant to CEQA: Upon completion of the PDC and the conveyance strategy, the City�s selected master developer, Alameda Point Community Partners (APCP), is required to make a decision as to whether it wishes to proceed with the project. If APCP choose to proceed, work will begin on a Master Plan for Alameda Point that builds upon the planning and design principles contained in the PDC but includes further details about the development plan. The City will begin work on an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) to assess the entire Master Plan at a programmatic level and the Phase I proposal at a project level. Upon completion of the Master Plan and environmental review process, the City will be in the position to consider an application package that includes a comprehensive ing rezoning of Alameda Point consistent with the General Plan and approving development plans for the initial phases of the project.

Land Use and Preservation Alternatives: At the request of the Alameda community and as part of the environmental analysis for the proposed project, alternative development concepts for Alameda Point will continue to be evaluated. Based upon the community comments received to date, it is anticipated that this evaluation will include financial feasibility analyses of preserving historic buildings recommended for removal in the PDC and further evaluation of the environmental, financial, and design constraints imposed by City Charter Section 26 (Measure A). For each historic resource proposed for demolition, the historic preservation feasibility analysis will consider a range of potential uses for the structure, the revenue that may be generated by the alternative uses, the revenue needed to cover the cost to rehabilitate the building for the proposed uses, tax credits that may be available, and the financial impacts of preserving the building on the economic viability of the entire project. For the analysis of the impacts of Measure A on the future development at Alameda Point, the EIR will compare the environmental impacts of the PDC to the environmental impacts that might be expected from an alternative development plan that is not constrained by Measure A. Based upon the comments received during the PDC public workshops, it is anticipated that the EIR will consider whether an alternative that is unconstrained by Measure A and allows densities higher than 21 units/acre, allows more than two units per building, allows multi-family housing over ground floor commercial space, and allows residential reuse of certain historic buildings would result in more or less severe environmental impacts than the PDC. During the public scoping session for the EIR, the community may further define the range of issues to be considered in both the historic preservation and �non-Measure A� alternatives in the EIR.Transportation: The PDC recommends a multi-faceted transportation strategy designed to maximize transit use and minimize automobile congestion caused by new residents and new employees at Alameda Point. The strategy recommends a series of improvements to facilitate and expedite the movement of buses to Oakland and ferries to San Francisco for both residents and employees. In the next phases of the planning process, the City and Master Developer will work with AC Transit, the Water Transit Authority, BART, and the City of Oakland to complete the design and identify funding opportunities for construction of: (i) the Seaplane Lagoon Transit Center; (ii) transit vehicle queue-jumpers in Alameda and Oakland from the transit center to BART stations at 12th Street and Lake Merritt BART, and (iii) alternative and energy efficient transit vehicles. This work will need to be closely coordinated with the ongoing planning with Oakland and Caltrans on the proposed Broadway Jackson interchange improvements to facilitate automobile access from the Webster and Posey tubes to I-880.

Low or Zero Emission Vehicles As recommended in the Transportation Strategy, the development at Alameda Point should give careful consideration to the use of zero or low emission transit vehicles to reduce the noise and air quality impacts associated with transit vehicles. In addition to the cleaner air and reduced noise impacts, electric drive and hybridelectric buses reduce fuel consumption. Fuel cost is the second largest operating expense for transit agencies after labor costs. Battery-electric buses are petroleum-free options (in terms of the onboard fuel), while hybrid buses are demonstrating fuel economy increases of 10% at a minimum and as much as 48% over a conventional diesel bus. Alameda Power and Telecom (A.P.+T) could provide the electric power to run battery-electric buses. Currently, 80% of the electricity provided by A.P.+T. comes from renewable resources, such as geothermal power generated in the steam fields of Northern California.

Sustainability and Energy Efficiency: Consistent with the Community Reuse Plan goal for a sustainable, environmentally sensitive development, the PDC emphasizes the importance of sustainable design, green building technologies, and energy efficiency. As the land use and transportation plans for Alameda Point progress, the City, the Alameda community, and the development community must continue to investigate every opportunity to minimize the impact of the project on the environment. This can be done through: thoughtful site design to minimize energy use and encourage walking and bicycling; adaptive reuse of existing structures to minimize generation of waste green building techniques and technologies to minimize energy consumption; thoughtful landscape design to minimize water use and minimize water quality impacts; and use of low or zero emission transit vehicles whenever possible.

Zoning Changes: To implement the policies of the General Plan and the development objectives of the PDC, a comprehensive set of zoning standards for Alameda Point will be required. The Alameda Point zoning standards will be designed in consultation with the Alameda community and will likely include some unique standards such as special work-live regulations for reuse of existing historic structures, maximum parking standards to facilitate the transit goals of the General Plan and PDC, and transit center and neighborhood center development standards. In addition, design guidelines will be prepared to ensure that new development within the Historic District is compatible with the historic resource.

School Facilities Needs Analysis: Concurrent with the environmental evaluation and the analysis of alternatives, the Alameda Unified School District will conduct an assessment ofthe District facilities in the West End of Alameda and the anticipated growth in student population in the West End with build out of Alameda Point. The assessment will determine whether future student populations can be accommodated in existing District facilities or whether new facilities will be needed.

Public Infrastructure: To implement the policies of the General Plan and the PDC, the City and the Master Developer will need to continue to examine, in consultation with the community and the appropriate outside agencies, innovative approaches to address the infrastructure needs and conditions at Alameda Point. During this next phase, the parties must identify infrastructure design solutions that minimize impacts on the environment, minimize public maintenance costs, and meet outside agency standards. Specific issues that need to be carefully examined include: standards for streets, sidewalks, transit lanes, and bicycles lanes; standards for sewer, storm water, and pump station design; and acceptable strategies to achieve on-site storm water runoff filtering.

During the next phases of the planning process described above, APCP and the City will continue work to hold public workshops to solicit comments on the proposed development plan, alternatives development concepts, zoning ordinance revisions, infrastructure standards, and transportation strategy options. Although the exact scope and schedule for public engagement has not been developed, the Planning Board has asked that staff present a draft public engagement plan and schedule to the Planning Board for its consideration and comment once the PDC and Navy conveyance strategy are completed so that the Planning Board and the public will have a full understanding of the alternative approaches and have input into the final public engagement plan.

Last modified: December, 2013

Disclaimer: This website is the sole responsibility of Mike McMahon. It does not represent any official opinions, statement of facts or positions of the Alameda Unified School District. Its sole purpose is to disseminate information to interested individuals in the Alameda community.